‘That’s absurd. I spoke to him only the other day.’

‘Yes, but what Jeremy didn’t know then was that his agent had heard some bad buzz about the project and had decided to dig a little himself. He didn’t like what he came up with and advised his client to pull, which he now has. It’ll go public tomorrow, so you’ll need to be prepared when you meet the media. Those Austrians hadn’t heard, I hope?’

‘They didn’t mention it, but I’ve kept them hanging around the palazzo all day because I was simply too overwhelmed to talk to anyone.’

‘Well, it’s bound to come up. I suggest you spin it as a creative disagreement thing. Both you and Jeremy are great artists and can only achieve your full potential if you are in complete accord. Unfortunately on this occasion your views differed, and so with the greatest regret you have mutually decided that further collaboration would not be fruitful. You wish Jeremy all the best in the future and look forward to working with him again. Negotiations are in progress with a number of other big Hollywood stars, but it would be inappropriate to mention names at this stage.’

Aldobrandini sat drinking and thinking. This was a blow, no denying it. The author of Revelations played a key part in the high concept he had in mind for the film. Saint John had not only declared his work to be an account of a mystical experience, but had grounded this by locating it on the island of Patmos. That island could easily be invoked with some shots of Calabrian caves and shoreline, but the figure of the prophet himself was central. The idea was to leave the audience uncertain whether his visions had been an objective visitation or a subjective hallucination, but it was the visual image of John himself that must convince them that any of this was worth their attention. For that, the slim, saturnine and massively talented British actor had seemed perfect. Aldobrandini could just see his lugubrious yet oddly fragile frame hung with a simple cloak, while the inspired face, the expression pitched on the cusp between the ecstatic and the demonic, gazed up at the heavens. The El Greco look.